Sania to take on Sprem in US Open 1st round

NEW DELHI: Sania Mirza was on Thursday handed a relatively easy first round outing as she was drawn to play 50th ranked Karolina Sprem at the US Open Grand Slam beginning in New York on Monday.

The 19-year old Indian featured in the bottom quarter of the women's singles draw which also featured second seed Justine Henin-Hardenne of Belgium and the seventh seed Patty Schnyder of Switzerland.

A victory over Sprem of Croatia, who has a best ever ranking of 11, could see Sania, world ranked 44, play the 14th seeded Francesca Schiavone of Italy.

French world number one Amelie Mauresom, also the reigning Australian Open and Wimbledon champion, is the top seed while Maria Sharapova, Elena Dementieva, Nadia Petrova, and Svetlana Kuznetsova have been seeded three to six in that order.